Deep Waters
by Sakura1221
Summary: When Detective Pines mysteriously disappears while tracking down a demon with too many deaths on his name, Mabel takes matters into her own hands and ends up realizing that she's been a puppet all along in a game she can't control. After all, once you're in too deep, there's no way out. [Rated T for violence, character death and swearing. Rating may go up in later chapters]
1. 01

**AN: Ugh, seriously, I have a lot of plot ideas for this fandom. This won't exceed more than 10 chapters because I usually lose interest quickly. I have a deep love for Detective AUs, and what better way to satisfy my detective-y needs than writing fanfiction! **

**In this AU, the Pines had a fairly normal summer in Gravity Falls, that meant that they didn't went through all of the adventures shown in the series. **

**Please enjoy c:**

**Updates will most likely be by the end of the week, either on Friday or Sunday.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of the characters mentioned below, it's rightful owner is Alex Hirsch. I only own the writing and the plot. I also don't own the cover art. **

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><p><strong>Deep Waters<strong>

She didn't have to open her eyes to tell that something was immediately wrong. She had felt it right away, a feeling of dread and uneasiness that settled in the deep core of her stomach and clawed away at her insides, she tried to push the feeling away with effort that meant nothing before giving up and simply tossing and turning on her bed until her body welcomed the silence of the night and the comfort of her bed. It never came, leaving the female to a helpless the sigh that escaped her rosy lips, turning to the side with both eyes opened as they adjusted to the barely-lit room. Red glowing letters read that it was almost time for her to get up anyways.

There was a grunt, the shuffling of blankets and footsteps that announced her awakening. Guided by instinct purely, Mabel had been heading towards the bathroom with one hand rubbing her eyes and the other combing its fingers through the messy locks of chocolate-brown hair that cascaded down her back. Yawning and stretching, she did her usual morning routine and got ready for the day, a task of at least thirty minutes that required most of her attention now a days. She looks at herself in the mirror when she's done buttoning her creme blouse and stands still as she places a single headband atop her head that matched her blouse.

Her eyes were a dark brown that held a soft shine to them and a mix maturity in them she had long acquired, barely noticeable by the prominent dark circles under her eyes, a clear symptom of being tired.

Then again, Mabel Pines had been nothing but tired and exhausted for the past few years.

After her brother and her had graduated from their high school, the twins had decided to pursue the same careers, something quite uncharacteristic of Mabel and became quite a shock to know that she would be becoming a detective much like Dipper. But alas, the years had taken a good toll on her after her boy-crazed phase and the mystery novels, the curiosity among other things, had begun to seep into her likings shortly after she had turned sixteen. She still held on to her love for crafts and glittery things, but age and experiences had changed her to be a somewhat different person, she wouldn't doubt that people would do a double take if she visited the places she had travelled.

Mabel makes the kitchen her next destination, smiles warmly when her piglet, Ziggly, oinks at her and she bends down to pet him.

The kitchen is a small space fit for one person, with old-fashioned cabinets of a maroon colour, a short island that held a couple of frames and pictures of her friends, coworkers and family. A refrigerator with various pictures from her summer album, a stove, coffee-maker, toaster and a microwave. Its comfortable enough for her to make things without having to worry about making a mess or feeling too cramped. That was one perk of living alone, the other one was that no one got to tell her how to live, after all, one would expect her space to be clean.

But from the spot she was at, brewing coffee and putting some poptarts on the toaster, Mabel was clearly aware of the mess of stack of papers that were scattered around the living room.

The thing was, being a detective was not always an easy task. Cases now-a-days were more easier to resolve than the ones from when was beginning, and at the age of 27 Mabel had become quite an expert at the job, just like Dipper had. Her brother however, had decided to move to another state to work and Mabel was more than fine with this, usually they kept in contact and would keep each other updated on what cases they had been assigned. More often than not, her cases were centered more towards normal situations, whereas Dipper's were more paranormal, something to be expected since the increase of magical creatures all around the world.

People hadn't actually been surprised by this like the twins had expected, after all, after finding both Journal 2 and 3, things had been anything but normal to them.

Still, that was the problem lately. Dipper had stopped calling a while ago, Mabel didn't pester him at all because he must've been loaded with work, just like she had been lately and in between trying to get a decent night's sleep, trying not to lash out at clients who came seeking for her help and the huge increase of paranormal cases, in which she wasn't quite skillful at, and trying to keep the Pines's reputation up as the most famous detectives in the US, sleep had stopped being a thing and she was sure that Mabel Juice wouldn't do the trick anymore.

She had switched to coffee.

When the 'ding' from the toaster registers in her ears, she blinks back into reality and trails her gaze off towards her breakfast, picks it up -ignoring just how hot it is- and chews on it, the burning doesn't quite reaches her tongue, and when she fills a cup of black coffee with too many spoons of sugar and Smile Dip, she smells it and takes a huge gulp to down the whole thing at once. She scrunches up her nose in disgust and walks towards the living room.

She's still not used to coffee, she never will, but if it's the only thing keeping her awake then so be it.

She silently prays for a smooth day today, gives her piglet his portion of food, promises him she'll be back later and then proceeds to walk out of her apartment. It's not a fancy place and the walls need repainting, and maybe the doors do too. Certainly there has to be some cleaning done as well, but the place is cheap and it's not like her job pays her more than enough to buy a luxurious house, even if she could, (she totally can) she's grown quite attached to the place, so she makes do with it. Smiles at the nice reception lady who doesn't even bat an eyelash at the brunette, and heads outside.

The day was mostly beginning, already up by seven am, Mabel decides that it's a nice day and that walking to her job would take nothing more than ten minutes if she avoids the cluster of people that become the ungodly hour of 7:30, she still doesn't quite understand why exactly at that hour people decide its a good idea to be walking around, but hey, its a different city, a whole different place from where she lived at. She had been living here for about six years, she would either have to get on with the program or be clueless as to how the city functioned.

And she did just fantastically.

She knew what each person in her apartment building did, the fights the neighbours had and the romantic affairs from the couple just above her head. She knew the time of when fights were a common occurrence, and would know when to sit down in front of the large windows that gave a clear view of the city, just to watch the group of teenagers sneaking out at school hours and play around until the police came looking for them, and oddly enough she was more than happy to know that besides all of this. The city had become quite welcoming to her, she adapter more quickly than she imagined. A bright young woman who wore too much glitter and sweaters until she turned twenty three, still kept them but her current location was too hot for her to wear them, one who would tend to people in need no matter of their status. Mabel won the heart of many people.

When she arrives at her work station, the feeling of dread doesn't quite leave and it only intensifies when she's not even done pulling out the keys to open her office when one of her coworkers, a female called Lea who wore too much lipstick and tied her long hair in a ridiculously high ponytail, tells her that another crime has been committed and that her assistance is needed, and Mabel thanks her with a tired smile and realizes that it's too early for this, and she opens her office door and clicks it shut behind her.

She needs three more minutes, another cup of coffee and more Smile Dip.

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><p>The crime scene is one that makes her face contour slightly in disgust, oddly enough the blood is scarce but the smell is powerful. Her eyes scan around the place, a shady alleyway, a somewhat cliche location to dump the body she thinks but remains silent. Her eyes scan around and she can't exactly see anything out of the ordinary, there's also a dumpster but she had already looked in there and the Crime Scene Investigation Unit had taken that as their personal job to register the place. She walks around the place, inspecting, silently.<p>

In the middle of the alleyway stands the mangled body of the victim, The body belonged to a male of old age, somewhere around his mid-forties. His expression was one of countourned pain, one eye had been taken out of its socket and splattered against a wall. The holes in his skin were a clear sign of a messy fate, the darkened pool of blood around the body told just how long he had been left there, the way his body was filled with endless, neat holes only seemed to justify that this was done out of rage. A single shot to the head would've been all needed to end the life of the victim, but instead the killer must've wanted the victim to suffer his death.

Mabel takes a step forward, blocks out any noise from the people working around her, and examines the body closer. She's used to it by now, but it doesn't make the feeling of sadness take over her being disminue anyways, people didn't deserve to die. It still happened, she would remind herself, but it never took away the bitter feeling it left at the back of her tongue, something about it unsettled her greatly. Squinting slightly, her eyes scan over the bullet holes, each one, though scattered around randomly, had somehow made up to be perfectly lined up with each other.

"Hey, Jes, come check this out." She calls out, never taking her attention away from the victim, the male comes shortly after, her partner is a man two years younger than her, deep azure eyes with a chocolate skin that mix beautifully. Mabel likes him because he's cool to be around, and somehow reminds her of her own twin brother. "You see this, right?"

"Yeah, it was the first thing I noticed when I arrived." Jes frowns, "It's weird though, the holes are so neatly lined up it's kinda difficult to believe this wasn't planned."

"The victim wasn't tied up," Mabel states, stands up and dusts of her skirt. "You can't see any mark on his wrists or neck. Otherwise, the killer couldnt have made the holes so neatly in place."

"So, you think this was the work of a non-human?" Jes asked, crossing his arms over his chest and Mabel simply nods.

"Could be," she ponders on what she says next, "It _has_ to be, I mean, there's no blood splatter anywhere, the victim is missing an eye and the blood around him is_ too_ perfect, you know... for it to be a blood puddle."

Something about all of this seemed familiar to her, but she can't exactly pinpoint why it is. The only good thing about her experience with magical creatures is that, because she has had limited cases with them, she can recall any certain points that could lead to know who did it. She had a vague suspicion of it being from a crime gang, those were a little bit more difficult to track down than people who work alone on committing crimes. The gangs were more organized, more clean on their work and usually marked their territory. The thing was, and Mabel knew too well, was that the territory that they were stepping on didn't show any evidence of being committed by the gang that owned the territory.

Mabel jumped a bit when her cell phone began to vibrate on her pocket, she excused herself from her partner's side and walked off towards the deep part of the alleyway, where the wall closed off any ends to the other side. Took out her cellphone and stared at the call ID, eyes widening slightly when she saw the familiar number on her cell phone screen.

The feeling from earlier morning comes back and hits her full force, and for some reason Mabel finds herself unable to answer the call, even though it keeps vibrating and vibrating. She takes a deep breath, looks around, notices the blood the seemed to become more apparent on the high walls, and her mind is filled with so many questions, How did the blood splatters get there? That wasn't supposed to be there, not when the body was so far away, it wasn't possible.

The vibration continues, Mabel picks it up without paying much attention, brings the device to her ear but doesn't pay attention to the female voice that speaks to her in a clear way that shows how desperate she is. She's too busy connecting the dots, connecting the clues she would've missed if she hadn't been receiving this call. And as the woman on the line calls her name, something in her brain clicks and her mouth goes dry, it's almost like a freezing cold has taken over her body.

It's almost instant, but she notices the splatters, four, one in front of where she's standing, two on either side of the walls in the alleyway, one at the entrance and the body in the middle lain straight, the blood underneath it forming a too perfect circle. She's snapped out of her trance when sobbing makes its way clearly into her mind, hands shaking, she knows that what she's about to hear it's not going to be good, she felt it this morning, stronger than ever. At the other line of the phone was Pacifica, her brother's fiance.

They had begun dating a while back, and it was unusual for the female to speak with Mabel through phone, rather optioning to video-chat. Hearing her voice sounding so desperate only made Mabel's sinking feeling worsen by the second. She had never heard the blonde so worried, so desperate, and her voice was barely understandable under all of the sobbing.

"Pacifica, hey- yeah- no- wait- I can't understand you." Mabel bites her lip, "Calm down, tell me what's wrong."

Her head was spinning, her eyes had been doing nothing more than going back in circles to each spot, each one becoming so clear in her brain that there was no mistaken she had seen it before. Dipper had told her he had been working on this case, for a year actually, he sent her information of the guy's way of killing, the way he worked. Neatly, precise and definitely made in a way to trick the eye.

"Oh Mabel, it's horrible-"

Maybe it was a coincidence right? Afterall, the last time she spoke to Dipper had been three weeks ago, her brother seemed fine, though the apparent lack of sleep could be heard in his voice, much like hers. She had inquired in the case, joking that possibly it was a human trying to pass off the murder as a demon (there has been cases, but they're easily told apart).

Dipper had agreed jokingly, they spoke for an amount of twenty minutes, Dipper hung up all of the sudden and she did not receive another call for two days, where he broke down and cried that he missed her and that lately he's been feeling like someones been watching him.

Mabel had deduced it was the lack of sleep, the amount of crimes going on in Dipper's section had increased in the past year and his work had been requested more than enough times to interfere with his sleep, which was really optional for him (and herself), they just liked to solve the cases As quickly as they could. She had told Pacifica to take care of Dipper and since then she hadn't been bothered with calls in plain mid-work from them.

Before the blonde could say anything else, the call ended and Mabel decided that Pacifica could wait. Afterall, she might just've been onto something here. One moment she's calling her team towards her standing spot and the next she's in her car driving towards the police station to inspect the case.

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><p>When she calls Pacifica back, she's drinking water and almost chokes on it. She cries and then sets into autopilot, she calls the meeting, organizes the paperwork and makes it into her office, buries her head on a pillow she had there in case she fell asleep sorting through papers and screams her throat raw until it hurts and she cannot believe what she was just told. She tells herself that it isn't true, and only tries to put on a certain charade so she can get this over with and not worry her coworkers.<p>

Then she gets more coffee, black and cold and disgusting, from the coffee maker in the office, walks into the meeting room and waits for everyone else to arrive as she scans each and every photo.

She's sitting down with her legs crossed in the meeting room, tapping her fingers on the wooden surface, various photographs of the scene had been laid out before her and her investigation team, there were soft murmurs, questions being asked and information about each and every single little detail of the crime scene. So far the room had been nothing but that and Mabel listened to each and every single information being provided.

"At least we can all agree that this was done by a magical creature, everything about this case simply points to it." She chooses her words carefully.

"Yes, but the crimes committed by the magical community have decreased in a while, the way the victim was killed does not fit the MO of any of the gangs."

She had to admit that this was a certain case. Gangs and killers alike made it a point to show who's work was when it came to crimes, none of them that were around the area assigned showed the same way of killing, precisely in this way. The odd symbol that had been made with the blood splatters was one she's seen before, and the cases where those of Dipper's.

"Which is why we'll need some assistance from Ohio." She states, takes a sip from the cold coffee in front of her and says nothing when the room goes quiet, she takes it as a cue to explain and so she does.

"All of the markings, the ones made with blood, high in the walls when looked at a certain perspective form a symbol," she starts to slide each photo to the middle, forming the scene with each one of them, takes a piece of red string and begins to tie together the symbol. "and that there is the giveaway to knowing who did this."

Jes, who sees the symbol and is quick to talk, asks. "And what does going to Ohio have anything to do with this crime?"

"The suspect is not from here, that much I know." Mabel gives a simple shrug, "I mean, you all know how I have a twin brother working in Ohio, Columbus. To be more specific." She recieves a few nods. "He's been working on this case for a year, and three weeks ago went missing when he found the location of our suspect."

Eyes are widened and Mabel can't help but want to throw up. Before the meeting she had called Pacifica back after things had settled down, it took her a two full minutes of her time to tell her that Dipper had gone missing, and it took a minute for the words to finally sink in her brain, least to say, she can feel her eyes still puffy and red from the crying earlier, and the way her voice lacked her usual cheerful tone. It's not easy when you're told your twin brother is missing, and have the suspect in the case commit a crime in Seattle, nowhere near Columbus.

Mabel takes a deep breath, "The MO is exactly the same, and if my brothe- Detective Pines, has any information on the suspect, then we need to obtain this information and track down the suspect."

"So... when are we leaving?" a female voice asks, Mabel can feel all eyes on her, all of them looked at her with pitiness she'd wish she wasn't getting. Another sip from the coffee cup, the cold and bitter coffee makes do to get rid of the horrible taste at the back of her throat. Maybe she'd need more of it, less Smile Dip, more mental wellness and definitely more sleep. She knew this would be a case that would take a toll on what little grasp of reality she has after being told that Dipper had gone missing and she was more than willing to sacrifice this.

If the suspect, who by now is obviously deemed a magical entity, had done this just to call her out, then it had worked very well.

It takes Mabel a full minute to answer, and when she does, her voice lacks emotion. "Tomorrow night."

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><p><strong>Welp, got this over with! Please rate and review! Critiques are always welcome and greatly appreciated. <strong>


	2. 02

**awesomenesshasar: Thank you so much for being my first reviewer, dear! uwu I'm glad to know you're enjoying it so far owo**

**I meant to update yesterday, but the power went out :p**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of the characters mentioned below, it's rightful owner is Alex Hirsch. I only own the writing and the plot. I also don't own the cover art.**

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><p><strong>Deep Waters<strong>

The flight to Columbus takes approximately four hours.

Four hours of twiddling her thumbs, four hours of lost sleep, and four hours of almost having an anxiety attack and trying to remain as disinterred as possible even though her coworkers were more than aware of her state, and more so than not tried to comfort her with invitations to make small talk and get her worries as far away from her mind but luck was not on their side, Mabel turned down each and every offer with a tired smile and would claim after the eleventh attempt at getting her to join the little group of socialization, that she would take a nap for the last two hours left of the flight.

She sat at the back part, curled up in a corner and slowly took calming breaths to help her worrying, her stomach was doing flips and the closer she got to Columbus, it almost felt like the air had been decreasing rapidly and that with every passing minute, the voices in her head kept on telling her, _reminding_ her that Dipper was missing. Her twin brother was missing, her broseph, her other half. She could only imagine how Pacifica would feel, so she told herself that after they arrived and had a good night's sleep that the first thing she would do is visit her sister-in-law. Mabel was sure that she would need the comfort more so than her, or at least she liked to believe that.

If there was one thing Dipper told her and that she tried to follow along, was that her feelings most of the time got in the way of work, she shouldn't lose her composure because those who were out to hurt her or the ones she loved would not doubt and take any advantage to do so.

An hour later, a restless night in a nice hotel which she spent admiring the room where she would be staying for the time they'd be working on the case, and absolutely more pacing, it had finally come to the time where they would be heading towards the police department. When her coworkers and her arrive to the Police Department early in the morning, they are introduced to the department.

Mabel doesn't waste time and asks someone to show her where her brother's office is at, she's led there and is then left alone with a simple message that someone will be attending her shortly, the woman who led the way mentions a name that doesn't quite reach Mabel's ears as she inspects her brother's workplace. Something about it just screamed 'Dipper' in bold and large letters and the feeling of nostalgia comes back.

As to be expected, his office is a mess of stacks of papers with notes and observations written in sticky-notes, an untouched mug of black coffee. His office, if taking away the mess, resembled hers in a way. Except that off the side, in the wall stood a board with various photographs, papers, notes and some weird looking drawings all pinned there. Mabel took more notice of this and stepped closer. Her suspicions were answered when she realized that these were indeed the photographs that Dipper had been commenting to her about the case, it didn't take her long to notice the same patterns from the previous murder she had witnessed, one hand went to touch one of the photographs.

"Detective Pines?"

Mabel tried her best to not flinch at the sound of the new voice, and calmly placed her hand back at her side, turning to face the new person in the room. Her lips drew into a thin line when she realized she hadn't hear him coming in, the door had made an awful lot of noise when the woman from before had led her inside. Was she too caught up on the pictures that she hadn't noticed? She didn't try to show her suspicion and proceeded to inspect the man from head to toe, something she knew he was doing as well because of the silence that took over the both of them.

Mabel's eyes traced his tall slender figure, tan skin covered under a white long shirt with a black tie that matched his black dress slacks. His face clearly showed how much older than Mabel he was, probably around three to four years. Stubble on his chin that matched his sandy blond hair, combed back in a professional way. However, what caught her attention was the weird, yet oddly enchanting eye colours that the man held, they almost resembled a rich gold colour, orbs that could read someone like an open book and for once, Mabel felt uncomfortable under his gaze.

She shifted on one foot, a barely noticeable movement but nonetheless caught by the male -she got the impression he was one to notice little quirks of people. Before she cleared her throat, offered a barely noticeable smile on her face and spoke;

"The one and only," she took a hesitant step forward and extended out her hand, the male inspected it before a smile grazed his lips and he took it. "It's a pleasure to meet you..." Mabel trailed off.

"I'd give you my last name, but people around here do not use it." He let go of her hand and rubbed the back of his neck, "the name's Williams, I'm Detective Pine's partner. I think your brother must've mentioned me?"

Mabel quickly shut her lips, and tried to recall a time where her brother had mentioned even if briefly the name William, but nothing came to mind. The male seemed to realize this and gave a sheepish laugh.

"Sorry, nothing I can recall. He must've though," Mabel offered an apology which made the man shake his head, "but in any case, it's a pleasure to meet you Agent William."

"Alright then, it seems to me like I must've startled you earlier with my unexpected arrival." He gave her a knowing look and Mabel's cheek warmed a bit.

"I- you actually did, never heard the door open."

"Your brother hates it when I do it." He silently mused to himself, his eyes trailed off to the side towards where the board was at and Mabel felt a horrible sensation set at the pit of her stomach.

Something about this man speaking so familiarly about her twin brother set Mabel off in a wrong way, almost as if he had been so acquaintanced to Dipper that the two shared a bond she had not known. Dipper had never spoken to her about this man, and that was something that bothered her greatly in a way. Maybe he had forgotten? It was unlikely, but then again, they hadn't been seeing each other for a long time. If the man had sensed her discomfort in any way, he either didn't seem to mind or didn't question it, because he simply walked past her and toward the board.

"So, in any case I'm here to help out in any way possible with this case." He commented and she took notice that he had avoided the subject, Mabel turned around to face him, and silently waited for him to keep speaking. "Detective Pines, I suppose you have some knowledge of the paranormal investigations, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Great," he turned around to face her and gave her a smile that was supposed to be friendly, reassuring but only looked like to her like it was forced, rehearsed so many times that even the discomfort that was supposed to be present in the man's face was masked away in a convincing way, that even behind her efforts to not believe, she couldn't help it. "Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this case and find Detective Pines before it's too late. It'll be nice working with you."

_Too late_.

"I can say the same."

The day is spent, if not, talking and going over the reports of crimes in the city that might've been linked to the murders and disappearances from the unknown killer. Mabel is set to work with a special team of people in the whole ordeal, a group of two people consisting of a copper-red haired woman called Wendy with who Mabel hit it off instantly after being introduced, and William, who she already knew she'd be working with. She learns after two hours of going through endless paperworks, endless cases and what seemed like ten cups of a drink she had been given by Wendy to keep her up -and boy was it working. Mabel realized that William and her brother would most definitely get along right off the bat.

For starters the man had a keen eye for little details that she might've missed, things about the victims and their reports that would get them more clues, let it be the way almost all of the victims were females of 20-30 years old, or how most of them if not, had a resemblance in some way, let it be eye colour -those were patterns that were coming up a lot- or if they wore a certain type of clothing everyday. He also had a strong knowledge of runes and magical spells, much like Dipper, and Mabel actually found himself enjoying what he had to say. She wasn't too educated in this sort of area, so that little knowledge could do her good.

She still had Journal 2, Dipper had kept the 3, but she almost never touched the book. Sure, it helped sometimes in some cases, but most of the things written were about Gravity Falls and as weird as it sounded. Their summers were spent quietly, if you didn't count the gnomes, some two-headed deers they've seen and a bigfoot, then yeah, fairly normal summer.

Then there was Wendy, she was a pretty down-to-earth woman. Turns out that she had been living in Gravity Falls, and in various ocassions she had seen both Dipper and Mabel but due to working at the library -a way to evade her family for as long as possible- she hadnt been able to meet the two when they arrived, her interest had been lost pretty quickly. Mabel then remembered her trips to the library with her brother, and had in fact recalled seeing her, in the end Wendy and Dipper had ended up working in the same department.

She, like Mabel, was more centered towards the more normal cases but that didn't mean that she didn't have a good amount of knowledge of the paranatural. In fact, Mabel was sure that the woman wasn't letting her know a lot more just for the sake of not making her feel left out, afterall, occasional slip outs comparing Mabel with her missing brother came out and Mabel would simply shoo them away with a hand, her coworkers got fairly along with the two individuals.

Mabel also had the keen suspicion that William and Corduroy didn't get along in the slightest.

Let it be the way Wendy had "accidentally" poured salt into William's coffee while he was distracted, or how William liked to point out every wrong thing about Wendy's information upon the subject. Somehow, watching the two of them, reminded Mabel of Dipper and her when they were beginning their careers. She missed times like those, and actually found it easier for her to gradually start to accept her new temporary work department with much more ease. Everyone seemed to just have a tendency to be friendly, goof, but still remain serious when it came to work.

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><p>The hours went by rather slowly, and before she knew it she had taken a cab towards Pacifica's and Dipper's place. She hadn't called or anything but Pacifica was probably not busy, not after the way she sounded over the phone when they were speaking the day prior to this one. Thinking about it made Mabel shiver a bit, she couldn't wait to see Pacifica.<p>

When she steps out of the cab, pays the man, and takes a look around the neighbourhood, she doesn't know if something about it shouted to her that it was too normal. Let me rephrase this, the community didn't seem like somewhere where _Pacifica Northwest_ would reside. Mabel didn't think of it in any bad vibes, the two young women became friends after Mabel had turned sixteen and have been rather closer since them, but Pacifica still kept up the reputation of Daddy's little girl. Something Mabel thought she'd be over by the time they both turned twenty, it diminished but still it felt like it was there ever so present.

The neighbourhood is an enclosed circle with about seven to sixteen houses, all of them were two-story houses or three. It was a nice looking place with a park in the middle with swing sets, benches and a sandbox. The colour schemes of the houses though, while not all the same, still made the place feel alive, happy. It didn't take long for Mabel to spot her brother's house, having seen it in a couple of photos they've sent her after they moved in a year ago. Mabel walks up the gravelly path up towards the steps of the pastel green house, knocks on the door and waits as Pacifica calls out she's coming.

Mabel picks up the sound of locks being opened and the door slowly slides open an inch to reveal baby-blue eyes looking at her with an unknown emotion before they flash with recognition. Even in the almost darkening day, Mabel can clearly tell the woman had been crying. Pacifica closes the door and theres more sounds of locks, then the door swings open and before Mabel gets a say or anything, she's enveloped in a tight hug and is pretty sure she's got blonde locks of hair right in her mouth.

"Mabel! It's so good to see you!" Pacifica exclaimed, letting go of the brunette who gave her a wide smile in return, still a tired one, but somehow just seeing Pacifica made her feel a bit better. She was safe, and by the looks of it hadn't suffered a lot. Even if she did, she was doing a well job at hiding it, if Mabel looked closer she was sure she could identify the symptoms of restless nights and how her voice sounded even if a bit worn out, probably due to crying. Mabel couldn't muster a single world before she was shoved inside the house and heard the door behind her close.

"C'mon, have a seat! We have a lot to catch up on."

"Alright," Mabel called out as Pacifica headed to the kitchen. The woman was still on her pajamas and Mabel noticed that they resembled the ones she had bought her last Christmas, though a different colour. She would inquire on this. In the meanwhile, Mabel had taken notice of her surroundings and was more than pleased to find that she wasn't wrong when it came to Pacifica's personality changing. If there was something that stood out the most in the house, it would be all of the decorations, decorations that probably put together could buy her whole apartment and probably even the block of her neighbourhood.

There were various amounts of portraits and pictures of Dipper and Pacifica together in various places, Mabel also took notice that in some of them William was present. These were pictures she was more captured by, picking up one of the frames she examined the photograph and wondered just how close that guy was to Dipper.

Mabel didn't stay in one place for long, deciding that maybe she should sit down. She wandered towards the living room, a spacious space that was probably even bigger than her apartment by itself, adorned with even more pictures, painted portraits and some trophies being displayed in a shelf. Mabel looked off to the side, where the hall to the kitchen led and smelled something closely to tea, before walking up towards the shelf and admiring the trophies from up close.

"Those are from a swimming competition I won a year ago," Pacifica comments as she walks into the room and sets down a tray with tea and some cookies, a jar of honey and sugar by the side. "First place, all of them." She states after thinking about it, and the way she says it is laced with pride.

Mabel shakes her head and gives a little laugh, pointing towards a silver trophy off to the side, "except that one."

Mabel sits down on the sofa and Pacifica narrows her eyes playfully, "Mabel, you cheated your way into first place."

"If I recall correctly, you were making googly-eyes at my brother and totally got distracted." Mabel didn't know if Pacifica was too caught up relinquishing the moment, because she was sure she saw the woman flinch just by the mention of her fiance, but said nothing, instead opting to give a tired laugh herself. Crossing her legs, she looked at Mabel with fondness.

"Wow, it's been so long since I've seen you." Mabel says after a while, and she's more than sincere with her statement. It was a total different thing seeing Pacifica through video-chats, but in person, she could barely tell the difference when it came to aging. They were the same age, but Pacifica had acquired and more youthful look, something about her smiling more had contributed to this, whereas Mabel had changed more towards a more mature side.

Not entirely, but she begs to differ.

"I can say the same about you, _Sunshine_."

"I thought we left the nicknames behind, Princess." Mabel raises a simple brown eyebrow and Pacifica gives her an amused smile.

"Ah yes, we did. But that was when we hated each other and the nicknames had more _sting_ to them. You know what I mean?" The blonde gives a nonchalant shrug.

They speak about many things, events leading up to the previous Christmas, how Pacifica had successfully almost managed to bring her parent's industry to bankrupt and how Dipper had amazingly helped her with that, how they had to move at least three times because somehow Dipper always managed to enrage a spirit that would torment them and especially how Dipper had asked her hand in marriage after five years of dating, they wanted to post-pone the wedding until the end of the year but then the case came in and Dipper was too busy to arrange weddings, not like it mattered anyways. Pacifica had acquired her fair amount of work over the time, being a manager of one of the most successful industries across the US was a tiring job.

Then, she proceeded to show Mabel the engagement ring and a part of her almost felt sad for not having anything to do with the moment. Still, even if Pacifica's voice reflected that she was happy recalling the memories, that dead look on her eyes was starting to worry Mabel. She tried bringing up the situation twice, but Pacifica easily evaded the topic, much to Mabel's growing frustration.

Pacifica had picked up a habit of Dipper's that was not to Mabel's overall liking.

"What brings you around here? Especially now?" Pacifica inquires as she picks up an empty porcelain teacup and pours green tea into it, it's hot and Mabel watches as the steam rises up above slightly, she takes the cup she's being handed and blows a little before taking a sip.

"Work related problems, speaking of which..." Mabel's gaze trails off the side where more portraits of Dipper and Pacifica were at, some including William. Pacifica's eyes trailed off towards Mabel's gaze and couldn't pick up what was wrong. "Who is William? Dipper never brought him up, neither did you."

"Oh, he's Dip's partner, the man's a charm."

"He seems really acquaintanced with the both of you."

"Yeah, he saved Dip's life when a case almost went horribly wrong. I still owe him a lot, he's a really nice man." Pacifica explained and Mabel couldn't help but bite her lip.

She recalls Dipper telling her about that case, he had stupidly gone out without a vest -although he claimed he had it on- and almost got shot, thankfully he had been saved, but nowhere in that conversation that took place, had he mention William. Mabel didn't like the feeling of doubt she was getting, but maybe it was just her memory, what's with the lack of sleep. Maybe she was just ignoring parts of conversations where the man was actually mentioned. It wasn't like Dipper to let out such important details.

"Pacifica, look. Not to sound insensitive, I came to check up on you and to ask some things pertaining Dipper's disappearance." The words barely made out of her mouth, and the way Pacifica's lips turned down at the mention of her fiance's disappearance, almost made Mabel want to evade the topic. She couldn't though.

Pacifica almost seemed indecisive as if to answer, she knew this would come sooner or later and she wasn't sure if being asked by her fiance's twin sister was making it worse than it should, however, after a full minute she finally managed a whispered; "Alright."

Mabel took a deep breath, dug into her bag where she kept a recorder and then pressed the button. Usually the interviews were done slightly different, but Mabel needed some extra insight into the whole thing, Pacifica had been previously interviewed but Mabel knew that she wouldn't have given her the same details she had done in the interview.

The brunette had gone over the recording, so many times, she was sure she had memorized it.

"Alright, please state your name, age and relation to the victim."

"Pacifica Northwest, 27 years old and fiancee to Dipper Pines."

"Pacifica, where were you the last time you saw Detective Pines?"

"I was just waving him goodbye from our driveway, it was a monday, around six am."

"Was he acting strange in any sort of way?"

"If you mean like usual, then yeah." Pacifica bit her lip, "Although, for the past few months he had been... _jumpy."_

Mabel frowned slightly, "Jumpy? how so?"

"Well, he would wake up at an exact hour every night and then wouldn't sleep for the remainder of the night, we tried sleeping pills but they had no effect. Dipper barely ate and slept, then around a week before he... he.." Pacifica took a nervous deep breath, her eyes started to water and Mabel's chest tightened.

"He?"

"Around a week before all of _this_ happened, he would lock himself up in his office and just speak to himself. I could hear him, I spoke to him about it but he denied it." Pacifica shuddered at the memory, and got this far away look in her eyes.

"Anything else?" Mabel asked, her hands were shaking slightly.

"He also spent a lot of time watching over his safe."

Mabel's eyebrows raised in confusion. That wasn't mentioned in the interview she had made before. Stopping the recorder, Mabel stood up.

"What safe?"

Pacifica looked up at her, she was clearly debating on whether or not to tell her. The blonde pursued her lips shut and looked away, Mabel frowned.

"Pacifica, _what safe_?"

"In the office. Down the hall, the last door to the left." Was all Mabel heard as she marched the towards the home-office.

Mabel didn't know what to expect when she opened that door, but what welcomed her was a sight she was not ready for. The place, the small like-office, was a mess. A disturbing one at it, there were papers, thousands if not more, scattered around, some ripped, some had giant 'x's in them in a bright red marker. The room smelt horribly, a smell she had grown accustomed to and that she wished did not reminded her of blood. There were incoherent scribbles on the wall, on the floor and on the furniture. Mabel took a steady step forward, picking up a sheet of paper that was lying the closest to her and tried to decipher just what her brother had written.

Nothing.

It was incoherent scribbles, something that resembled another language, another type of writing. It sent shivers down her spine, however she ignored this and looked around for the safe. Sure enough there was a small safe sitting nicely on top of the table, the marker had also gone over it, but instead of it looking like her brother had done random markings, all of them formed a certain symbol. It took Mabel a minute to realize it, but when she did Pacifica was already by her side, sobbing.

"Runes..." Mabel whispered, looking at Pacifica with wide and concerned eyes, the blonde woman managed to form a sentence through her sobbing.

"When he didn't come back... I took a look in here... I found all of this, the safe." She swallowed a sob, "the safe, that damned _safe_ had a note attached to it with the words 'sorry' on it."

"Where's the note?"

"I burned it."

Mabel frowned but said nothing agaisnt it, though the action might've seen illogical, there have been cases of people freaking out. Poor Pacifica might've freaked out and in the heat of the moment gotten rid of the note.

Pacifica, then, started to cry even harder and Mabel found herself unable to even maintain her footing. The room was spinning, combined with the foul odor and Pacifica's cry, the woman closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. When she had enough, she guided Pacifica out of the room and closed it behind her. Taking a few deep breaths, Mabel patted Pacifica on the back and when the woman reduced to silent hiccups, Mabel spoke.

"Pacifica, I'm gonna have to leave." Mabel flinches when Pacifica's eyes widen in fear, and she notices up close, just how sad and broken the blonde looks. It's clear that the female had gone through so much more than Mabel, she was the first one to know that Dipper had gone missing, the only thing he left behind was a note in a huge mess with a safe that he apparently had been obsessing over for the time, a safe in which neither of them knew what held inside.

Mabel had a vague suspicion that one of the items in there was Journal 3. However, why would he go to such lengths to protect that old journal?

"Please Mabel! Don't leave!" Pacifica begged, tears beginning to form once more on her already puffy eyes.

She contemplated her options, but truthfully, she was tired as well and did not have the energy to call a cab. So she calls Jes, tells him she'll be staying at Pacifica's place and that if anything happens he gives her a call.

Pacifica, two hours later, apologizes for outburst and offers Mabel the guest room to sleep in. Mabel tells her that she can't promise Pacifica that she'll be there in the morning, sometimes, unexpected calls requiring her to go to work happened.

"I know, I'm used to it." She says and closes the door to the guest room, leaving Mabel alone in the dark to her thoughts and the awful feeling of being watched.

It's a long time before sleep claims her.

* * *

><p><strong>I'll be mentioning some characters that will not have any sort of dialogue in the story, just minor characters (like Wendy, there will be others)<strong>

**edit: I updated the chapter with something I forgot to add when describing Wendy(thank God for you kind Guest reviewer uwu). Wendy had seen the Pines when they were sent to Gravity Falls every summer, except she hadnt been working at the Mystery Shack, but at the library. **

**Please rate and review, critiques are always appreciated and welcome!**


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